Before you wonder, this is not a typo. Yes the cab fares in Bombay are going down. The world over the price of oil has resulted in higher petrol prices. Then in terms of that scenario, how do you think the prices are going down ??

Well that is because the cab fares in Bombay were fixed keeping in mind that all cabs had engines running on petrol.

But since the last few years, all cabs have converted to CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) engines.

CNG is cheaper than regular petrol hence the difference in price and hence the lowering of cab fares.

The H20 water sports complex at Chowpatty is playing host to close to 30 yachts that will anchor there before taking off for the first ever Vasco Da Gama Cup rally from Mumbai to Baina Beach in Vasco Da Gama (Goa) culminating on April 29.

The rally, planned to encourage water sports and sailing in India has yachts from Holland, France, US, Italy, UK and Germany, besides others, along with Indian yachts. Even as a number of enthusiasts gathered at the Salt Water Grill, the H20’s restaurant yesterday afternoon, the yachts that had set off from Finike Setur Marina in Turkey on October 31, 2005, making their journey all around, were just coming in.

Though the rally will have prizes for the first, second and third, the competitive element will run concurrently with the strong sense of adventure that the event intends to foster and promote.

That is why it is named after Vasco Da Gama, the Portugese explorer who established a sea route from Europe to India. Da Gama’s journey, however, led directly to 250 years of Portugese colonialism in India.

The official flag-off ceremony for the rally will take place on Sunday afternoon.

So guys, slip…slop…slap on the suncreen and head to Chowpatty tommorrow morning.

Picture taken by Mumbai Mirror‘s lensmen of rape accusedAbhishek Kasliwal coming out of the Arthur Road Jail after being granted bail by The Bombay High Court on Thursday.

Justice V M Kanade, while granting bail to Kasliwal, directed him to furnish a surety of Rs 50,000 and not to leave the country without the permission of the court. He has also been asked to be away from Mumbai and Maharashtra, till the conclusion of the trial at the sessions court here.

The court, however, permitted him to reside in Delhi, as requested by his counsel, with a direction to report his presence at the local police station every evening for four week. The HC also directed that Kasliwal, along with his parents, should not make any attempt to tamper with the evidence available against him.

While granting him bail, the court also directed the state government to provide adequate security to the victim and also prepare a plan for her welfare.

About 50 lakh commuters, who use the service of Bombay Electric Supply and Transport Undertaking (BEST) have been left stranded, as the BEST employees on Friday began an indefinite strike demanding pay revision.

Although an Industrial Court has termed the strike call as illegal, and the BEST has warned disciplinary action against employees participating in the stir, sources said that the stir is likely to hit the city and suburban bus transport system. Nearly 3200 BEST buses will stay off the road on Friday while as many as 44,000 BEST employees joined the stir called in support of their pay revision demands.

To top it all up, BEST’s union leader Sharad Rao has threatened to bring Mumbai to a standstill if striking BEST workers are sacked under the Maharashtra Essential Services Maintenance Act (MESMA).

“If they are sacked, the unions will disrupt all essential services across Mumbai and bring the city to a standstill.”

These services include public transport, hospitals, schools, water supply and electricity. Sharad Rao’s threat came after the state considered the option of invoking the law, which prohibits BEST employees from going on strike as they provide an essential service. When talks with the administration failed yesterday, Rao launched an indefinite BEST strike. The BEST employees’ unions and the management are at loggerhead over the Justice Kurdukar pay revision committee, whose recommendations are not acceptable to the employees.

Sharad Roa’s threat doesn’t come as a surprise, BEST employess are known for such crude tactics. And they continue to set a bad example for other Worker’s Union across the country.

Last week 40 year old Laxmi Iyer left home to get to work. Like millions of Bombayites, she took the local train to work. However she never reached work, because she fell off the train and died. And this hardly made any news.

However tragic it may be, this is an everyday occurance in Bombay. About 3500 people die in railway accidents in Bombay alone. However what makes this event even more tragic is that she died because of something that one would expect in any other place but Bombay.

She fell off and died because she was pushed off a crowded train. She was not allowed to enter.

GRP sources said there were gangs, in both the women’s and the general compartment who do not allow people other than known faces, to board the train, by physically blocking the doors. [ llink ]

As the article reports,

Parmila Vakharia (50), from Nallasopara, was arrested by the GRP and booked under section 304 (ii) — culpable homicide.

What really shocks me is how heartless we Bombay citizens are becoming.

Bombay folks unlike New Yorkers, are known for making space for every single person in a train bogie, no matter how crowded the train might be.

They are also known to grab every person running to catch a speeding train and grabbing him/her in and then admonishing him/her for doing something as stupid and dangerous as getting on a moving train.

But we have always been known to help. To keep everyone of us amongst us. To keep them safe.

Do you think I am over reacting or do u think that this is an indication of how we as a citizenry are getting to cold hearted that we care a damn for our fellow city dwellers ?

Come on Bombay, that’s not you.

(image copyrights Mid-Day)

This is the first article blogged on MB Mumbai after a tip off by a reader. Thanks Sandeepfor bringing this to our attention.

Vikram Buddhi a permanent resident of New Bombay, and currently a masters student at Purdue University, Indiana, USA has been arrested and held without bail for making threats against the US Prez and others. This, allegedly done on a Yahoo Finance message board in December.

There are two sides of any story. The first thing that comes to mind is the First Amendement, as prescribed to all citizens and residents of the USA.

Purdue University graduate student Vikram Buddhi may have crossed a line if he posted online messages calling for the assassination of President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and other high ranking federal officials.

National and local legal and political experts as well as local bloggers seem to agree that threats against the president’s life posted on the Internet are taking things too far.

However, his NaviMumbaibased family firmly believes that Vikram is innocent and that someone has hacked into his net account to post the ‘Kill Bush’ message on the Yahoo finance board.

Talking to TOI, 65-year-old Capt Subbarao said, “Vikram has been studying applied mathematics at the University of Purdue for the last ten years. He is a quiet and docile sort of person and I feel someone has played mischief by posting an anti-American message using his name.”

Personally, my first gut feeling reading this article is one of surprise. Dosent the US law enforcement agencies have nothing better to do than to read some loony comments on a message board and just go arresting the poster without checking the background.

Come on people, give our local “chhokra” a break and get on with it. Let him out !!

Meet Kaveri the camel. She was brought to Mumbai form Hyderadad to be sacrificed on Eid, luckily for her she was rescued by the Mumbai SPCA and they lodged her at the Cattle Ward of the Parel Animal Hospital (as you can see). Where it turned out that she was pregnant (another twist to the tale) – anyways all turned good for Kaveri who is now a mother to a healthy calf.
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